Rhetorical Constellations and the Inventional/Intersectional Possibilities of #MeToo

Abstract

In this project, I analyze news coverage of the #MeToo movement to categorize how blame is assigned and what corrective actions are prescribed for the pervasive problem of sexual violence. Although it is tempting to scapegoat individuals, this practice often limits the scope of sexual violence to isolated cases. Transcendence is an alternative route to redemption that attributes blame to structural and societal forces. However, transcendence may erase intersectional differences and silence voices by overshadowing individual stories. I argue that the risks in focusing exclusively on either scapegoating or transcendence can be mediated through the lens of a rhetorical constellation. This approach calls for media and news coverage of #MeToo to attend to the specific circumstances of individual cases and to frame those unique people, voices, and stories as part of a series of interactions with other instances of sexual violence that constitute a call for societal change.

Media Framing on Coverage of Motorway Rape Incident: A Study of Cable Channels in Pakistan

“…Within the literature on framing are those studies analyzing whether VAW is framed as an individual or societal/ structural problem (Hernández 2017;Sutherland et al 2019;Rojas Rajs 2014;Owusu-Addo et al 2018;Sela-Shayovitz 2018;O'Boyle and Li 2019;Bloomfield 2019;Nilsson 2019), whether the narrative serves to legitimize or dismiss the movement (Askanius and Hartley, n.d.), and media depiction of #MeToo as a natural force with local manifestations across the globe (Starkey et al 2019).…”

Comunicar amb perspectiva de gènere : una tasca inconclusa als dos costats de l'oceà

“…Within the literature on framing are those studies analyzing whether VAW is framed as an individual or societal/ structural problem (Hernández 2017;Sutherland et al 2019;Rojas Rajs 2014;Owusu-Addo et al 2018;Sela-Shayovitz 2018;O'Boyle and Li 2019;Bloomfield 2019;Nilsson 2019), whether the narrative serves to legitimize or dismiss the movement (Askanius and Hartley, n.d.), and media depiction of #MeToo as a natural force with local manifestations across the globe (Starkey et al 2019).…”

Using YouTube vlogs to study women's experiences of participating in #MeToo

“…Although scholars have examined #MeToo's racialized (e.g., Bubar, 2013; Gómez & Gobin, 2019; Ilinskaya & Robinson, 2018; Leung & Williams, 2019; Nathaniel, 2019) and gendered character (e.g., Arkles, 2018; Hsu, 2019; Ison, 2019; Johnson & Renderos, 2020) and its impacts on the practices and policies of various social institutions (e.g., Alexander, 2019; Bloomfield, 2019; Byrne & Taddeo, 2019; Eckert & Steiner, 2018; Sobiesiak et al., 2020), there remains little qualitative research on women's actual experiences of the movement and the effects it has had on their lives, especially from an intersectional feminist perspective (see Quan Haase et al., 2021 for a review of this body of research). Sexual violence disproportionately affects the lives of gender, sexual, and racial minorities.…”